The Other Path
by LordRevanMandaloreofZutara
Summary: Prequel to What If? What if the 7th Spartan was not obedient to the UNSC? What if he led the others in a covert resistance to Halsey and Mendez? And what if it had been the Arbiter that had discovered Reach and made First Contact? C/C, Thel/Miranda OC/OC


**This is the sequal/prequel depending on how you want to look at it, of my fic What If? This fic will be divided into a few books. Book 1 will focus on the events leading up to 2525. Book 2 will over the next two and ahalf decades. And Book 3 will cover the Halo Wars.

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"**The beginning of the Neo Spartan Empire can be traced to a few key movements by both ONI and the Smith Clan. Had either taken different steps, the Neo Spartan Empire would never have existed. Let us thank the Creator and creators that this did not happen."**

**Hua 007 on the creation of the Neo Spartan Empire, 2549 AD

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**The Other Path**

**Book 1: Spartan Revival**

**The Abduction

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**Sol System, State of North Carolina, United States of America **

Sighing in contentment, the two little boys sit on the grass watching the clouds pass overhead. For the two boys it is the first time in a month they have been able to get out of their parents estates and relax. Though they did not understand the exact reason, they knew that their parents had been worried about something for the past month. Something to do with a colony world and people there wanting to break away. Of course the two had not paid a great deal of attention to the specifics. After all there were so much more important things like Pokémon or the new version of Bugs Bunny that had recently come out. The only reason they noticed was because their parents had been a great deal shorter with them then before.

Yawning, the slightly older one flops down on the ground. "You know what Kalo, I wish we could do something about the Insurrectionists in the colonies. I don't like seeing Mama so upset."

Kalo nods, stretching his arms high above his head, not noticing the shadow that moves behind him. "You're right Hua. Maybe we should hire that big man, the ones papa always uses when someone gets on his nerves." Oblivious to the shadows, Hua starts to respond when he feels a small pinprick, and the world darkens…

**Estate of the Smith Clan**

From the underground bunker that serves as the Smith's private hospital silence echoes. In the operating room the family doctor shakes his head sadly, then closes the eyes of the dead young master. Shivering, the doctor walks out of the operating room, shivering as much from the pain of losing young Hua Ley as from the fear he feels at informing the young boy's family. As he walks through the hallways to the waiting room the nurses give him sympathetic looks. They know that his chances of survival are not good, not when he brings such news as this to some of the most powerful people in the Human Empire, as his masters insisted calling all the territory that lay under human domination. Even after nearly four hundred years of rule, the Smiths refused to see the UN as anything more than lapdog of their enemies. There had even been times in the years just after its formation after War World II that the tension between the two had been so great that the UN had…

He suddenly stops dead in his tracks. _'They wouldn't. They wouldn't dare!'_ The doctor shudders at the implications of what seems to be the only possibility. There is no other logical explanation why a seven and six year boys, in the prime of their lives, would just up and die like they did. If he is right, then the doctor will be speared, if he is wrong…

Ten minutes later the doctor walks into the waiting room, his spirits lifted from the dismal depths that had sank to after losing the young master, or who he thought was the young master. But even his new found good mood does not last under the withering gaze of Hua Ley's mother. Gulping, the doctor kneels before her and her parents. "My Lord and Ladies," the doctor prostrates him before his masters.

With eyes the color of stormy sea, Lady Brenda speaks. "You may rise doctor. We can already see the failure in your eyes. Stand, and take your punishment like a man." As the doctor rises, she draws her sword. "We trusted you with our son's life." The Smith Clan dated back from the 11th century AD, and while they had lived in America since the 14th Century, they still possessed a Feudal mindset. They were more merciful now then they had been before the UN took control of the world, but only a little.

"Now we must bury our son, and his friend, Kalo. He was robbed of his life by fate and your ignorance. Your death will not be enough to fill the void caused by your incompetence, but it is a start." Brenda begins to lift the blade to deliver the coup de grâce when the doctor speaks up.

"Young Master Hua is not dead, my Lady. He is alive." This bizarre statement is enough to stall the downward swing. Brenda glances back at her parents, Masurao and Reen Smith. They both give a small, imperceptible nod.

Lowering her sword, Brenda raises her eyebrow at the doctor. "Could it be that it is not incompetence that took Hua from us, but insanity?" If this is the case then it changes matters. The Smiths may be more violent than normal society would deem acceptable, indeed if modern society knew half of what the Smiths did they would tar and feather the ancient family, but they were not dishonorable. A man cursed by insanity was to be helped, and the justice due for any actions done under the spell of insanity was to be balanced with the need for mercy and grace. "We know that our son lies dead on the operating table. Unlike you, the other doctors were loyal enough to come forward and admit their failure. That is why they live."

'_And I know exactly who they are, traitors.'_ The doctor thinks viciously. But he lets none of the rage he feels show, neither does he let his smug sense of victory show either. "My Lady, I am not insane. The reason that I did not immediately report my failure to you is because I did not fail. The operation was a success, the patient only died."

Grinding their teeth, Masurao and Reen glare at the insolent doctor. Their fury is only a parcel compared to the fury that dances in Brenda's eyes. "Perhaps we were mistaken. Perhaps it is not insanity that caused you to fail, only arrogance." Tightening her grip on the blade, Brenda lifts it up over her head, preparing to strike at the insolent doctor's head.

"And perhaps the body on the table is not the young masters, but a clone of the young master."

For a second time that day the entire bunker is silent. As per tradition, whenever the Smiths execute someone, generally after a failure so horrendous that it permanently damages a family member, the execution is to be broadcasted live throughout the complex. This is to serve as a reminder to the servants that the Smiths are their masters and not just their employers. For the most part the servants do not fear their masters. Several times when a servant made a mistake so severe that a Smith was hurt, the elder Smiths would show mercy and spar the servant. But all who were watching the execution had been expecting the doctor to die. He had presided over the death of the young master, the only heir to all the Smith estates and influence. That he would still be alive was unthinkable. Then he made his proclamation, and everything change.

The doctor had expected Lady Brenda to be so flabbergasted by the news that her son had been replaced by a clone that she would stand mute, the sword down at her side and away from his precious neck. That, unfortunately, is not what happens. Faster than his eyes can follow the sword is by his neck, actually drawing a small amount of blood from where the tip is pressing into his flesh. The doctor then makes his first mistake. He looks into Brenda's eyes. Where they had been stormy before now they positively blaze with barely constrained fury. Those eyes, they captivate him, like a tiger captives audiences at zoos. The people know that the tiger will kill them if given half a chance, but the tiger is so beautiful.

The doctor then makes his second mistake. He tries to shift blame away from himself and to the Smith's hounds, both canine and human, who failed in their duty to protect the young master and his friend. This only enrages Brenda further, causing her to slice his ear off. Blood spurting, the doctor falls to the ground. Clutching his left ear, he starts to rise when he notices the tip of the sword only a few inches from his face. Wisely he stays put.

"You are a fool! It may be as you say. Our son still lives, as does Lord Kalo in all likely hood. But even Hua's clone death must not be overlooked! They are people, if not the same person who they were cloned from. Any deaths of their kind is a tragedy, yet you feel no sorrow for him, all you care for is saving your own hide!" Brenda pauses, her fury momentarily shifted to a new target. Turning her head, she barks out an order in the ancient Celtic language of her ancestors. His face showing nothing, one of the guards walks up to her and kneels down. In the same ancient language, Brenda lashes out at the man who answers a moment later, apparently having been asked a question during Brenda's verbal lashing. Having her answer, Brenda gives a dismissive grunt. The man rises, bows, and as professionally as he can, flees the room. When the man is gone Brenda turns her attention back to the doctor. "Who sponsored K-amino Limited, for that is the only place where you might have achieved any sort of knowledge on the despicable art of cloning?" After issuing her question, Brenda backs away from the doctor slightly, allowing him to breathe easier.

Taking a few seconds to compose himself, the doctor answers. "I found out only by accident. At first I was under the impression that you, or one of your relatives was responsible. But by chance I overheard some of the executive talking. The language they used intrigued me enough to call in a few favors from a hacker I knew. What he found shocked me."

The doctor stops, unable to continue. Fury peaking again, Brenda steps forward, leans down, and picks up the doctor by the throat with her right hand. "What did you find?" she growls.

His reply is a two syllable acronym that sends shivers down even the Smith's backs. "ONI."

**CASTLE Base, Reach; Dr. Halsey's Office**

Inside the darkened office on Reach, one of the brightest minds the Human Race has ever produced sits typing in the dark, the sound of Reverie, a work of Claude Debussy, filling the background. She types knowing that a storm is approaching. She knew because she knew that the SPARTAN II program required a very specific genetic purity in order to be implemented. And out of the billions of children, only a hundred and fifty were eligible for the service. And curse it all, but her son's name appeared on the list. He had even passed the second major screening, making it into the elite 75 who would be trained here on Reach.

"Damn it all." Halsey stops tying, cursing for no apparent reason. Then the holo projector activated. Oh how Halsey wished it was Jane, her protector and assistant. But from the way the light simmered, Halsey knew it was not Jane, her personal AI. It was someone far more dangerous.

**/You can run, but you cannot hide. Not from me Catherine, not when this is about our son./** Taking a breath to fortify herself, Halsey swivels around in her chair, and meets the bluish eyes of Brenda Smith.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." When confronted with a superior foe, deny everything. Deny it until you are proven guilty, and even afterwards. That was the approach Halsey must take with Brenda, the approach her superiors had ordered her to take.

Brenda's blue eyes narrow in agitation. **/Do not lie to me, Catherine Elizabeth Halsey. I do not tolerate lies and deceit./** And unlike a good many people who said it, Brenda would not lie herself. Skirt the truth yes, omit facts yes, but never lie to your face. It is what makes Halsey feel like shit right now.

"Again I do not know what you are talking about. I know that you see plots and sinister Machiavellian schemes whenever you look at the UEG and especially ONI, but you must trust me when I say I have no idea what you speak of." Yes, Halsey feels like shit now. Not only was she going to destroy 75 children's lives, she was lying to a woman she respected tremendously, even if she thought Brenda was a bit foolish for still believing in God.

The blue eyes are now like the seas when they are churned up by the strongest of storms, Hypercanes. They have always been the most expressive part of her. Brenda truly shows what she feels by her eyes. To see them churning with rage breaks Halsey's heart. Though both women were born at the same year Brenda has always been the more mature. Three years after writing her second Doctoral Thesis paper on archaic line commands and moving up the ranks of the ONI, Brenda was recovering from a vicious rape and was giving birth to a son, a boy that was called Hua Ley, the name of an ancient kinsmen who became a light to oppressed people back in the fifteenth century.

**/Not only do you lie to me, you ignore me./** Brenda's furious tone snapped Halsey out of her daze, and she realizes she had missed several lines of Brenda's examination. Flushing, Halsey starts to speak, to defend herself when Brenda raises her own hand, silencing the scientist. **/You are dead to me now. I care not what happens to you now. Only know that I want our son back and his friend, Kalo Poder./** When Brenda said our she did not mean hers and Halsey, she meant her and her parents. But if things went as she projected, Hua would regard her as mother within a few years. All at once her shield cracks, and a small tear escapes her eye. Had Brenda seen this who knows what might have been? Halsey would spend the next three decades asking, "What if?" If Brenda had seen the tear then Halsey would have given in. She would have revealed the location of the children, not only Hua and Kalo, but all of them. But Brenda did not see. Brenda had her back turned to her, and in a voice as cold as in-stellar space, bids her farewell. /**I hope your lies comfort you. For I never will again. When I find Hua and Kalo, and all the other children I know are with them, I will kill you. And you know me Halsey, when I make a promise, I keep it. May God have mercy on your soul, for I won't./** Brenda had never called her Halsey. With that simple changing of names, Halsey knows the break is complete.

Before Halsey can say another word the projector dies, and she is left alone in the darkness. Reverie continues to play, but the soft music does nothing for Halsey. Absently she shuts if off. When the music dies, Halsey lets another tear slide down her cheek, then one more and another. Before she knows it her face is covered in tears, and she sinks down to the floor. For the first time in her life she wished she had the faith that Brenda had. Enduring the knife now lodged in her heart would be easier then…

**SCD Liberty, **_**H**_**igh **_**A**_**ltitude **_**L**_**ow **_**O**_**rbit above Reach**

Cutting the transmition to her treacherous former friend, Brenda Smith turns away from the communication counsel, beginning to pace back and forth across the bridge. Back at the Smith estates in New York she had been wearing simple linens, suitable for the day of amusement she had been about to enjoy with Hua. Now she is dressed in dark battle armor, her nanoite reinforced cape swirling behind her. Her mood is dark and no other man or woman on the bridge of the former UNSC Destroyer wants to risk their necks interrupting her thought process.

'How best to get Hua and Kalo back. The Poders are up in arms over this, but why would ONI abduct Kalo? The Poders have no conflict with the UNSC, in fact Burdel Nolivus, the acting head of the Poder Clan, stated that he was planning on throwing his support over to the UNSC. So why would they jeopardize such a valuable contribution and at the same time alienate the second most power family in the Empire?' Brenda answers her own question out loud. "Because they expect to get more by abducting children, bastards."

Her head of security, Alexander McSweeney, decides this is as good as time as any to approach his mistress. "My lady, what course do you wish us to take?" Alexander knows the fear that permeates his mistress' core. Had things turned out different, his son, Gordon, might have been the one that was stolen, like the young master and Lord Kalo were.

Brenda stops her pacing, glancing down at her most loyal servant. "Tell me, Alexander," Alexander shivers every time she says his name in that tone, "do you know where Halsey stashed her family?"

Seeing where his mistress is heading, Alexander smiles a savage smile. Even though it is the 26th century, the Smith Clan still deals with threats in the way their ancestors did. Bowing to one knee Alexander humbles himself before Brenda. "It shall be done, my Mistress."

Taking their cue for him, the rest of the men and women on the bridge drop to one knee. Brenda gives them a nod of acknowledgement before walking past them. Her revenge against Halsey would be swift and brutal. Instead of killing the bitch right out, Brenda would force Halsey to live in a earthly hell for the rest of her days, then when the time was right, Brenda would cut her throat, damning her to the spiritual hell that awaits her. This brings, not a smile, but a tear to Brenda's face. Oh how she wished that things had not turned out this way, but she cannot change history. Hua and Kalo had been kidnapped, and the parties responsible must pay.

"ONI. HIGHCOM." She mutters to herself as she stalks past saluting servants.

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**Okay, here is the first chapter. One important theme that will echo throughout this book is the duty is voluntary. A Government cannot simply put a gun to your head and say, "Serve, it is your duty." That is the one thing that has always pissed me off about the UNSC. They kidnap children, replace them with living beings whose only purpose in life is to die, brutally train them, then inject them with chemicals that render more then half of them dead or not able to move. Bastards. So more on the beginning of the Spartan training next chapter. As you will see, things don't go as smoothly as the ONI/HIGHCOM would hope they would. **

**And what are your thoughts on Brenda/Smith Clan. I would really like to hear what you think of a Feudal Minded American. **

**I hope you enjoyed.**

**Till next time,**

**LordRevanMandaloreofZutara**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or the character taken from Harry Turtledove's Great War Trilogy. Those belong to their collective owners. The only thing I own is my OCs. **


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